~~ Challenge - Dramatic Black & White ~~

Over at I Heart Faces . . .

The photo challenge of the week is Dramatic Black & White

Slay me . . .

Isn't he adorable!





Such a little man!

There are so many great entries this week over at I Heart Faces.
Like candy in a candy store . . .







Kristin ~picasa~ ~photobucket~~flickr~
Sony a300
just using kit lenses right now: DT18-70mm/f3.5-5.6, DT55-200mm/f4-5.6 & loving it!
(But really want a 50mm/f1.7 !! - ha! Got it!)
Home Blog, Photo Blog

I Heart Faces - Fix It Friday - March 26

When I saw the photo - I knew this one would be fun!

Love the colors and the beautiful eyes!

Below is the original photo.

I immediately did just an auto levels correction in PS CS2 which

corrected a lot of the brightness and exposure levels.

Then I used Coffeeshops Free Perfect Portrait Action to smooth

away the chapped little cheeks and brighten up the eyes a bit, and

make the colors pop.

Used a healing brush to correct the little bruised area between her eyes.

Then I thought it would be fun to add a texture to the photo.

Again one of the free texture packs that is out there. I erased nearly all

texture from the subject.



I've been wanting to learn more about using clipping masks and had

these free frames from Coffeeshop - this one turned out really cute.



And here's my final -

Lots more to see over at I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday!






Kristin ~picasa~ ~photobucket~~flickr~
Sony a300
just using kit lenses right now: DT18-70mm/f3.5-5.6, DT55-200mm/f4-5.6 & loving it!
(But really want a 50mm/f1.7 !! - ha! Got it!)
Home Blog, Photo Blog

I Heart Faces - Bundled Up

This week over at i heart faces

The Challenge is "Bundled Up"

A topic very appropriate for here in Utah - as we keep getting more and more snow. We have to bundle up everyday just to stay WARM. But it sure makes for some beautiful photo shoots.

This is Brandon - and I think he bundles up VERY well!

Don't you agree?

Kristin ~picasa~ ~photobucket~~flickr~
Sony a300
just using kit lenses right now: DT18-70mm/f3.5-5.6, DT55-200mm/f4-5.6 & loving it!
(But really want a 50mm/f1.7 !! - ha! Got it!)
Home Blog, Photo Blog

See lots more great bundled up shots at -

More treat ima ges at i♥faces. You're sure to love it!

Fix it Friday - I Heart Faces

Wow! If this can be saved . . .
anything can!

It took me a while to get from the first photo to the second photo.

• First of all, after opening the photo in Photoshop CS2, I made a levels adjustment moving the center slider quite far to the left. Also, the right slider over to the left just a hair also. It was amazing what that one adjustment opened up in the photo as far as color. It was amazing to see what was hidden underneath!
• Next I ran Coffeeshops Free Perfect Portrait, I used the Vivid Color layer to give a little extra boost to her eye and lip color, brightened it a little, increased the eye definition and a little vinyette. I tweaked all the layers opacity just a bit to get the look I wanted, then flattened.
• Next I ran another free action DNP Noise Reducer, and included all three layers, green, blue and red for noise reduction. In fact, I ran it twice.
• I love free actions and next used MCP's High Definition Sharpening Action to crisp things up a bit. I used the mask and black brushed everything but the eyes to make the eyes stand out more.
• Almost to the end: I cropped in closer, didn't want to try to recreate the missing left corner, so found a great crop that approximates the thirds rule.
• My goal I'm currently working on is to try to figure out how textures work and use them to add some dimension to photos occasionally. So I thought I'd give it a try here. I'm not very good at keeping track of where I get free textures, so I can't tell you which ones I used. (I'm going to figure out a system for this). But there are lots of free textures out there! Here is a great place to start. I applied two different textures, erasing the first completely from the subject, and on the second kept the opacity at about 75% removal of texture.
  

Drumroll please . . . ta da da da!

Kristin ~picasa~ ~photobucket~~flickr~
Sony a300, Sony a700
just using kit lenses right now: DT18-70mm/f3.5-5.6, DT55-200mm/f4-5.6 & loving it!
(But really want a 50mm/f1.7 !! - ha! Got it!
New puppy - Tokina 28-70 f2.8 dreamy)
Home Blog, Photo Blog